In attacking Herman Cain’s claim, he proved Herman Cain’s point.

AL SHARPTON, MSNBC: I think that I agree with both Goldie and Melissa. He had the right not to be involved. What he does not have the right is to rewrite history by saying that blacks were brainwashed by becoming Democrats, because when blacks became Democrats, my parents were Republicans. As I said, Dr. King’s family was. I’m nine or ten years younger than Mr. Cain, and I joined the movement later on in the ’60s when I was still a teenager.

I don’t begrudge him for not making my choice, but I do begrudge him for acting like we’re brainwashed because we went with a Party that stood up for the Civil Rights Act of ’64 and Voting Rights Act of ’65. There’s a reason blacks did not stay with the Republican Party. So I think when he stepped in to calling people brainwashed and totally discarded the fact that it was based on public policy that people made their political choices, and, in fact, changed their choices from the Party of Lincoln.

Sharpton ignorantly just assumes Democrats were stronger supporters of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than Republicans were. He has been lead to think as much, which is Herman Cain’s very point.

When we look at a percentage of each party that voted for the Civil Rights Act, we find Republicans in Congress were bigger supporters than Democrat. In fact, Senate Democrats tried to kill the legislation but were stopped by Senate Republicans.

In the House, only 61% of Democrats voted for the bill. That’s in contrast with 80% of Republicans. Over in the Senate, it was 82% of Republicans and just 66% of Democrats.

We find similar results on the 1965 Voting Rights Act. 94% of Republicans voted for that legislation in the Senate, compared to 73% of Democrats. In the House, it was 82% of Republicans in favor and 78% of Democrats joining them.

If Sharpton were really standing with the party that stood up for the Civil Rights and Voting Rights legislation, he’d be standing with Republicans. Instead he just assumes Democrats were the saviors of that legislation.

Which was Herman Cain’s point.